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pigeons, fowls) suffer from a similar affection, and by some it is
thought that such animals may convey it to human beings. Cows'
milk has been the medium in certain epidemics. Articles, such as
clothing, bedding., cups, toys, &c., may convey the disease. A
healthy person who has come in contact with a diphtheria patient
may convey the disease to a third person without suffering himself.
Defective sanitary conditions are credited with the power to cause
the disease, but these conditions act in the way of lowering the
tone of the body, and by setting up a low form of sore throat, which
provides a favourable soil for the growth of the microbe of this
disease.
Symptoms.— It may be from two to seven days after being
infected before the first symptoms arise. This period is called the
"incubation period. "The disease usually begins with feverishness
accompanied by chilliness and aching pains in the back and neck
Redness then appears at the back of the throat, and the child may
complain of slight difficulty in swallowing. Greyish spots then
appear on the tonsils and the neighbouring parts of the throat,
which spread, and, in severe cases, may completely cover the back
of the throat with a skin or membrane. If this skin extends into
the windpipe difficulty in breathing may be experienced, which in
certain cases may lead to suffocation. If it extends into the nose
bleeding may occur from that organ. The fever may rise very high
and lead to a fatal result. Many serious complications may occur
during the course of the disease, such as bronchitis, inflammation of
the lungs or kidneys; but the most serious complication is paralysis,
which is said to occur in about 15 per cent, of the cases attacked.
The paraylsis may attack the throat, causing the child to speak
through the nose, as it were, and leading to a difficulty in
swallowing liquids (in such case the liquid will often be passed
back through the nose), or the muscles of the eyes, leading to
squinting, or some muscles of the limbs may be affected ; but the
most serious form of paralysis is when the heart or the muscles of
the chest employed in breathing are affected. This form of